Head-dibs

Ok, I've been sick since Christmas and have come to a grinding halt with all things fitness. I'm getting better though. Slowly. I just want to run again. And lift. I miss running though. I miss doing things so intense that it becomes spiritual. If you've not exerted yourself that much, then you won't understand--but it happens.  So when I get better, I'm starting again from zero. Kind of have to because my strength is gone. But I'll get it back. 

Was out of gas by the end of this workout. Next time it's an even 300#.

"I have to die. If it is now, well then I die now; if later, then now I will take my lunch, since the hour for lunch has arrived – and dying I will tend to later." (Epictetus, Discourses I, 1.32)

This March will include a 21 day SEALFit fitness challenge of 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups and 100 squats in each day of the challenge. Reasons to do this: Since the 100 mile running challenge last November, overall body strength and mobility is not fully recovered; My left arm maintains various levels of tendinitis. Lifting has not been my friend since December;  The challenge serves as a reminder that things could be worse. Some things hurt more than others and will never go away, so I train to live with pain. As the SEALs say, "Suffer in Silence." So my training extends through the emotional, mental, and spiritual. What I think does not matter--just complete the mission; Commitment to completing one hard task per day, no equipment required. I've gotten soft. Especially around the middle.  It's always good to be part of something bigger than yourself. There's this beautiful point of tension after starting out ("I can do that! Easy Day!") when yo...

“We must all either wear out or rust out, every one of us. My choice is to wear out.” —Theodore Roosevelt This last weekend was perhaps one of the most restful weekends had in a very long time. Saturday began slowly and progressed at the speed of two very long naps and culminated in a 3 mile run just as the sun was setting. At first I felt guilty for not being up and doing, but then that’s all I seem to do. It was a day of rest. The next day was not much different. Nothing was pressing, nothing urgent--so why not rest, recharge? But one cannot stay in “recharge” mode. Theodore Roosevelt did not have a promising beginning. He was a weak, sick, asthmatic until he made a decision to do something different, be someone different. His father installed a home gym where he built up his body strength. Not long after he took to a variety of outdoor sports and excursions, even creating a museum of natural history in his own home. He grew to be a soldier, a fighter, a hunter, an explorer and...

No matter where you go on this trail, there is always an uphill. Of course, this view (below) is looking downhill but you see where it leads, down through the tunnel of trees? That's the trail rising up another hill. The easy part is always be behind. The trail-head is on top of the hill and there's always the joyful run down, but down is hard on the body. It pounds the nerves, the joints, the sockets. Downhill is not easy but it is faster. So you wind your way down only to face a rise. Getting to the top is slow, hard work. It takes effort. The hills are at such a pitch that both going down and up are a chore. Even if one gave up and turned to go back, guess what? It's uphill again. Might as well go forward to get back to where you started, back on top of the hill. Sometimes you get lucky--the ground is dry. Sometimes you get mucky. But you keep moving forward to the end. On top of the hill. My map tracker shows where I've been but it doesn't show the ...

“If you really want to escape the things that harass you, what you’re needing is not to be in a different place but to be a different person.” (Seneca) Most people walk or hike the 2,000 + mile long Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine in about 4 to 6 months, and every person does it for reasons all their own. It takes a different kind of person to run it in record time.  "Ultrarunner Karl Meltzer has long dreamed of setting the speed record for crossing America's Appalachian Trail. Now he sets out for his third and final attempt to run the 3,523km (2,188 miles) in less than 46 days, 8 hours, 6 min." What a person finds during a challenge of any size is that one can be his or her own worse enemy. Not nature. Not the problem. Not the obstacle. Those things are neutral, "good", even beautiful. Those very same things could care less who we are, what we think or how strong we are. We are the problem. We are the challenge.  Be inspired to be a dif...

l to r: Chris, myself, Ben, Mark, Jason A good friend of ours (center) is moving along to the next phase of his life's journey. We are really going to miss him--but it's not "good bye." We celebrated Ben and sent him off by doing the workout of his choosing: "12 Days of Christmas." So, complete with some rockin' Christmas music we had some serious bang-n-clang going on in the Fitness Center. We did the following WOD, like you would sing the song, the number of the "day" being number of reps. And boy did everyone crank it out! 1 Power Clean (115#) 2 Pull-up 3 Wall Ball (20#) or Thruster 4 Bench Dip 5 Goblet Squat 6 Push-up 7 "Supermans" 8 Deadlift (115#) 9 Box Jump 10 Kettlebell Swing 11 Burpee 12 Knee to Elbow Best going-way party ever. Sure made some memories, Dr. Ben!

"Loredo" 6 RFT 24 Squats 24 Push-ups 24 Walking lunge steps Run 400 meters

Took a trail run at lunch today. 2.67 miles in 40 minutes and some change. I ran the trail "backwards" today because, well, this hill's been climbed enough. It was time to run down it today. A kind of a victory run, as it were. I needed a little victory run today. Tired of getting my butt kicked. Thought I would kick back today. Don't get me wrong, there was plenty of work getting to the top and by the time I decided to record this part of the descent, I had already come down quite a ways. And there were two more very large hills yet to climb before I got back to the start. Impossible to get anywhere around here without climbing a hill or seven. Today I just needed to get out in nature where nothing's in a hurry and everything's on time. Out on the trails, the only sound heard is the wind in the trees, the birds and squirrels gossiping, the occasional "plop" of someone's fishing line as they hide in the bushes on the banks of a priva...

"The 100 Office Workouts book is a collection of no-equipment illustrated easy-to-follow routines specifically designed for workplace conditions allowing you to exercise during work regardless of the time and space available and regardless of the office attire."

1) Watch these cute birds battle in the early morning: 2) Do Stuff Around The House for fastest time (burn a calorie or seven) 3) Grab a cold beverage of choice and watch the CrossFit Games Livestreaming or Archived at the Games Website , on Facebook or CBS Sports. Or skip #2 (exercise that "Rest" muscle) and go from 1 to 3 :-) 

I've been using (though not consistently) the Endomondo Sports tracker since 2014. Here's an interesting report I found for all the training completed to date. To be clear, I've missed a number of entries so it's not a complete report but still, the results are amazing. Like the fact that I've burned 611 burgers as demonstrated in the graphic below. One feature of this app that I like is how it not only maps my runs when I'm out, but also shows my pace, altitude and other useful information. Rarely it glitches (like the time it showed a 45 mph sprint--like I'm the 6 Million Dollar Man or something) but it's a great app. It tracks more than runs of course, but does not display the same kind of information as shown from a run.  Enjoy the nice early mornings! Get out and have fun! And if you're doing the Burpee Challenge (see side bar), make sure you get those in!

Being refreshed with some good R&R but today's WOD was different. Learned a new move today called the Death March. Think: Walking Dead(lifts) Miss my training partners, that's for sure. Plugging away at it though. One WOD at a time. A. 3x Dumbbell Push Press x 8-10 reps (35#) Rest 45 seconds Death March x 20 steps (35#) Rest 45 seconds Side Plank x 45 seconds each side Rest 45 seconds B. AMRAP 10 10 Wall Ball Shots 10 Burpees

Nice day out. Feels like Springtime! Planted re-started lettuce and celery this morning , then went to training in the garage, which I deep cleaned  on Monday--more room for training! So that my training brethren know I'm not just sitting around binge watching Netflix all day (just in the evening), here's today's WOD (ok, so I'm a day behind--but I cleaned my garage--get it? "Cleaned"? It's a weight lifting joke . . . never-mind) . . . A. Four sets of: Romanian Deadlift x 6 reps (185#) Rest 60 seconds Single-Arm Dumbbell Press x 8 reps each (35#) Rest 60 seconds 100-Meter Suitcase Carry + Waiter’s Carry (35#) (hold a DB at side in suitcase carry, and another DB overhead in waiter’s carry) Rest 60 seconds B. AMRAP 9 12 Kettlebell Swings (35#) 9 Goblet Squats (35#) 6 Burpees

"Every year on Memorial Day weekend, CrossFitters in affiliates across the world perform the Hero workout, ‘Murph’. It is a workout that has become synonymous with CrossFit, not just for its brutal toughness, but for what it represents. ‘Murph’ is not simply another workout we do in a class to increase our fitness before moving on to whatever else we have going on in the day. It is a workout designed to honor and remember the men and women of the armed forces that have lost their lives in defense of our freedom. And as is the case with every Hero workout, it has a story of courage and sacrifice behind it. ‘Murph’ is named after Navy Lieutenant Michael Murphy, who was killed in action in Afghanistan June 28th, 2005. He was 29-years-old. After graduating from Penn State University in 1998, Murphy rejected offers to attend law school and instead accepted a commission in the United States Navy and became a SEAL in July 2002. For a man whose nickname was ‘The Protector’, the de...

Today's WOD was awesome. Feeling mighty. 4 sets 10 reps of Deadlift (135#, 150#) then AMRAP 10 minutes of 1 Deadlift 1 Power Clean 1 Front Squat 1 Shoulder to Overhead Press Here's a couple post-WOD lifts cause I had a few more in there:

Enjoyed digging deep today 'cause that's where the gold is. Gold is deep. Train for greater things. Bigger things. Pain only hurts for a little while but then you get your head together, feeling mightier than before and you think, "what comes next?" Reflecting on the fact that I just turned a year older (50) and knocking this kind of stuff out just thrills me. Heard a great thought recently that fits in nicely right here: "be an active participant in your own life." I'm tired of sitting by watching life pass me by. Sitting still hurts more than moving. That's why I train, to get stronger and "go places." And becoming an active participant in life has done just that. We'll all be active participants in our death, but why not live a lottle? I admit: today's WOD got me like, "woah" but when I think that I'm not staying still, that I'm getting stronger--I get excited. Here's what we did today: 3 sets, 10...

4x15 Back Squat then "Jack" AMRAP in 20 minutes of: 10 Push press (115#) 10 KB Swings (40#) 10 Box jumps (20") [completed 6 rounds, total weight of 4800# lifted--FEELIN' MIGHTY!] Army Staff Sgt. Jack M. Martin III, 26, of Bethany, Oklahoma, assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 1st Special Forces Group, Fort Lewis, Wash., died September 29th, 2009, in Jolo Island, Philippines, from the detonation of an improvised explosive device. Martin is survived by his wife Ashley Martin, his parents Jack and Cheryl Martin, and siblings Abe, Mandi, Amber and Abi.